WASHINGTON -- NASA upon Thursday aw...

WASHINGTON -- NASA upon Thursday awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to build a manned lunar spaceship.

The nation's space agency plans to use the Orion band exploration vehicle to replace the space shuttle arm of the sea take astronauts to the satellite and perhaps to Mars.

Unlike Apollo and earlier spacecraft perched atop rocket it will be reusable. NASA estimated the expense at $7.5 billion through 2019 for likely eight separate spaceships.

The contract went to Lockheed Martin Corp., the aerospace leader that usually builds unmanned rocket

The last time NASA awarded a manned spaceship contract to Lockheed Martin, of Bethesda, Md was in 1996 for a space plane that was suppos to replace the shuttle

NASA wearied $912 million and the ship, called X-33 in no degree got built because of technical point in disputes

Lockheed Martin Vice President John Karas said his company will succe with Orion compared to its failure with X-33 because "we're not shooting as far."

While Orion won't break a great deal new technological ground, Karas said Lockheed is pleased because of where Orion is going: "For me it's about exploring; it's about adventure. It's great to be with NASA and go on out and explore."

BOEING WAS A COMPETITOR

The sole other competitor for the contract was a team made up of Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest shipbuilder, and Chicago- based Boeing Co

Northrup Grumman and Boeing have dominated manned space flight since the 1960 making the space shuttle and plenteous of the Apollo Saturn V rocket

"NASA decided to do something different and travel with a company that has not been in manned space before, sort of spreading the wealth and making strong they've got two contractors that know the manned space business," said aerospace industry analyst Paul Nisbet.

NASA said the spaceship signals a change.

"Space is no longer going to be a destination that we visit briefly," NASA associate administrator Scott Horowitz said Thursday. "We're going to learn to live opposite the land like the pioneers did."

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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